First photo animation: The two males had spent most of the afternoon chasing each other around the nesting area. They had landed in the trees and had faced up to each other but not made any physical contact at this point. The resident male continued to chase the other kingfisher into the trees and from a perched up position it grabbed hold of the intruders beak and fought for a short period before releasing it and and the intruder flew off.

Second photo animation: The two male kingfishers fighting in this image are young birds who are trying to establish their territory having only arrived a week ago. Unlike the fight between the adult males, these birds are less aggressive and are probable brothers, but there is only room for one male in the area !!